


The Breadcrumbs

by Vehka



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hunger Games Holiday Exchange 2013, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 15:23:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1108444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vehka/pseuds/Vehka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>They follow the breadcrumbs and he doesn’t let go of her hand.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Breadcrumbs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geckoholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/gifts).



> This is for geckoholic. She asked for a fic with these pointers:  
> 1\. Figment(s) of your imagination.  
> 2\. "Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?" (Rose Kennedy)  
> 3\. Modern day AU, anything but High School or Coffeeshop. 
> 
> This isn't actually fully any of those, but it combines parts of every prompt: it is an AU-fic, the quote does apply in some way and it contains figments of my imagination. I hope you like your tiny fic - I loved writing it.

This is a myth. It tells about the girl with the bow and the boy with the bread. Like all myths, it has a hero and it has a monster, and it is about life. And about death. About love and loss and about getting lost and about finding a way back again.

*

When they shout Prim’s name, Katniss closes her eyes for a tiny moment, for a split-second, and then she steps forward. The sun is fierce and hot and the summer air smells of rot, of sweat, of fear. It is the Reaping Day and Prim has been chosen as the Sacrifice - and there is only one thing Katniss can do, so she does just that.

“I volunteer”, she shouts and then she repeats those words over and over again inside her head until the Peacemakers come and bind her hands.

*

It is always dark in the Labyrinth. The air is dusty and thick and it is difficult to breath. She has walked forward with her bow, scared and determined and lost and fully aware of the ending of this story. The flickering flame casts shadows on the walls - the ending casts shadows in Katniss’s heart and in her mind. The sound of Katniss’s steps grows from the whisper to something loud, unbearable, and when she can’t bear it anymore, she stops.

And then she waits, like hundred of virgins before her, tired and desperate and still alive. The Minotaur is a beast and it is good at tracking its prey, so there isn’t any point at walking around and trying to hide.

Katniss thinks about the flickering flame, the last light, and the darkness that will soon fall. And she knows that the Minotaur will wait.

But she doesn’t want to, so she blows out the flame and grasps her bow. For a moment it is perfectly quiet.

After that, there are footsteps in the Labyrinth, but those aren’t hers.

*

He has a bread - it is half-burned, but sometimes even the best bakers fail - and a candle and a little hope.

When he finds her - because he always does, in the end - she is shaking and her knuckles are white from grasping the bow and her gaze is wild and lost, but she is alive.

And the beast is dead, because this is a myth and the myths have their heroes.

*

They follow the breadcrumbs and he doesn’t let go of her hand. She doesn’t say anything.

*

And because the myths are often tragedies, it takes years before she does. It takes years before Peeta finds a way to lure her heart out of the Labyrinth, away from the nightmares and fear.

But he is patient and really good at waiting, so in the end he leads her home.


End file.
